The Singles (Goldfrapp album)

The Singles
Compilation album by Goldfrapp
Released	3 February 2012 (2012-02-03)
Recorded	September 1999 – December 2011 Wiltshire, Bath, Somerset, London
Genre	Synthpop electroclash trip hop ambient glam rock
Length	54:42
Label	Mute, Parlophone
Producer	Alison Goldfrapp, Will Gregory, Nick Batt, Flood, Pascal Gabriel, Jeremy Wheatley
Goldfrapp chronology
Head First (2010) The Singles (2012) Tales of Us (2013)
Singles from The Singles
"Melancholy Sky" Released: 3 January 2012

The Singles is a compilation album by English electronic music duo Goldfrapp, released on 3 February 2012 by Mute Records. The album features singles from the duo's five studio albums, as well as two previously unreleased tracks, "Yellow Halo" and "Melancholy Sky".^[1]

Background and release

Following the duo's departure from EMI in August 2010,^[2] it was confirmed in April 2011 that Goldfrapp had begun work on their sixth studio album.^[3] In December 2011 Mute announced that a fourteen-track retrospective compilation titled The Singles would be released on 6 February 2012 by Mute and Parlophone, including the biggest singles from their five studio albums, as well as two brand-new songs, "Melancholy Sky" and "Yellow Halo".^[4][5] "Melancholy Sky" was released on 3 January 2012 as the compilation's lead single,^[6] while a video for "Yellow Halo" was directed by Lisa Gunning and entirely shot on Gunning's iPhone in South America.^[4][7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	85/100[8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
Daily Express	4/5[10]
Digital Spy	[11]
Drowned in Sound	8/10[12]
entertainment.ie	[13]
musicOMH	[14]
Pitchfork Media	8.4/10[15]
PopMatters	9/10[16]
Slant Magazine	[17]
This Is Fake DIY	9/10[18]

The Singles received critical acclaim from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, based on 14 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".^[8] AllMusic editor Heather Phares commented that the album "shows that [the duo's] craftsmanship and good taste may have been their most defining quality." Phares continued, "Their style-hopping sounds less like searching for what will stick and more like the product of two restlessly creative artists who had the talent to do just about anything they wanted and tried a little of everything."^[9] Pitchfork Media's Matthew Perpetua wrote that Goldfrapp "have spent the past decade moving back and forth between icy electro-glam and atmospheric balladry, delivering these extremes in tonally consistent albums that dare to alienate listeners who favor one style over the other", noting that The Singles "makes a virtue of their range [...] resulting in a tight hour of their finest material sequenced like a dynamic, eclectic pop album."^[15] Matt James of PopMatters commented, "Over the course of five albums, Goldfrapp have proved themselves one of the most imaginative, artistic and entertaining bands of this new century", further stating that the compilation "offers an intriguing introduction to one of Britain's premier pop art bands."^[16] Drowned in Sound's David Edwards opined that "the most striking thing from their singles compilation is that within this, they actually managed to craft some rather excellent pieces of pop orientated electronica", adding that on The Singles, Goldfrapp are "exactly how they wanted the world to see them: sleek, intelligent, flirtatious and deliciously off their tits."^[12]

Martyn Young of This Is Fake DIY described the compilation as "a triumph of compellingly brilliant classy pop".^[18] Jaime Gill of BBC Music raved, "Fourteen songs that veer between the perfect and the merely outstanding, The Singles is proof that Goldfrapp have been the most versatile and most consistently, glitteringly brilliant pop band of our new millennium."^[19] In a review for the Daily Express, Simon Gage claimed that the duo "has built up quite a body of work as displayed on this gorgeous little collection", noting that "[w]hile their albums are well-worth discovering and hugely well-received, the singles showcase some excellent work".^[10] Lewis Corner of Digital Spy stated that the album "contains 14 of their finest and [...] eye-poppingly brilliant string of releases", concluding, "For over a decade the duo have been writing consistently fantastic pop songs—and here is the proof."^[11] Elaine Buckley of entertainment.ie commended the duo for their "wonderful electric stylings" and wrote that "the songs of The Singles are still as impressive as ever." Buckley found "Yellow Halo" to be "somewhat disappointing", but praised "Melancholy Sky" as "instantly charming".^[13] Slant Magazine's Matthew Cole, rating the compilation four-and-a-half out of five stars, viewed it as "a terrific showcase for Goldfrapp's versatility, though on the crucial point of whether or not their midtempo and ambient numbers are as essential as their dance hits, it's not entirely convincing." He concluded, "The Singles as a whole feels like a more complete and satisfying journey than either of Goldfrapp's last two albums, progressing confidently from crushing guitar-driven boogie to weightless space pop".^[17] John Murphy of musicOMH expressed, "Whereas each of Goldfrapp's albums occasionally had the odd filler track that stopped them from being gilt-edged classics, here we get all the meat and none of the fat [...] there's so much pop sensibility crammed in here that each track sounds almost impossibly fresh."^[14]

Track listing

All tracks written by Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, except tracks 3 and 9, written by Goldfrapp, Gregory and Nick Batt.

Personnel

Credits for The Singles adapted from liner notes.^[21]

Charts

Release history

References